Students who take classes in Onondaga Community College's Applied Engineering Technology programs are learning from professors who have a wealth of industry experience to share with them. One of the newest professors with first-hand knowledge of the subject matter he's teaching is John Sly. "My hope for my students is to teach them to go further in life, faster than I did, by sharing my knowledge and experience."
Sly's journey to the front of an OCC classroom began more than two decades ago in his tiny hometown of Glen Rose, Texas, about an hour-and-a-half southwest of Dallas. "I didn't have a lot planned after high school. For my parents it was 'you need to find something to do and you can't stay here.' I joined the Navy. That was my start."
He spent six years in the United States Navy, repairing ship sonar systems and subsystems. Following his honorable discharge, Sly worked a handful of jobs before landing at Micron Technology in Manassas, Virginia. He spent more than 12 years there in the roles of Senior Technician, Dry Etch Equipment Owner, Dry Etch Equipment Engineer and Lam Total Productive Maintenance Teams Leader, and Workforce Development Engineer. "If you applied yourself, there was the opportunity to do whatever you wanted there. Micron was very flexible to work for. They encouraged people to be at the places they needed to be where they were going to be happy. If you're happy at work, you get more done."
Professor Sly began teaching at OCC in the fall 2024 semester in the Micron-related Electromechanical Technology (ELM) program. "The first four or five weeks were a little bit stressful. After that, I got into the swing of things. It was exciting and enjoyable."
While OCC's Electromechanical Technology program was created in response to Micron's decision to build chip fabrication plants here, the curriculum is not Micron-specific. It's preparing students to work in businesses across the region. "There's plenty of opportunity for students in this pathway. Being a technician, someone who can fix things, it's an overlooked, underappreciated, and highly-paid skill set. I want to help the students succeed."
Over the semester break, Sly visited his daughter in Texas and celebrated his 41st birthday. Today he's early in his second semester at OCC sharing his knowledge. "I feel like I've had a lot of good experiences with my students and they are just going to continue. I want to keep doing this because it's personally rewarding."
